This week: where to buy fresh cherries or pick your own, an old pub gets its second transformation, the “old boys” get together to cook, and a shot of liquid gold for rum connoisseurs.
Cherry time
Cherry season is upon us with the Christmas treat now available from orchards, mostly concentrated in the Adelaide Hills.
The Cherry Growers’ Association of SA has produced its annual cherry map, showing where you can buy cherries from the packing-shed door or pick your own. The map also describes other activities at each property – and the list is varied and wonderful.
Many orchards do much more than grow and sell fresh cherries. Some also sell other products such as wine, baked goods, ice-cream, other fruits and condiments.
According to the map, for example, Fleurieu Cherries, on Pages Flat Road, sells cherry port, cherry ice-cream and pinot gris. At Cowlings, near Norton Summit, you can buy white and sour cherries, apricots and pure cherry vinegar (which is really excellent).
Old boys
The list of 10 degustation dinners planned for the Adelaide Festival’s Barrio replacement – Lola’s Pergola – look uniformly good, but one in particular takes The Forager’s fancy.
“The Old Boys” will is a dream team of three great SA chefs – Cheong Liew (formerly of The Grange), David Swain (still cooking great food at Fino), and Mark NcNamara (who made Appellation’s reputation) will cook together for the first time.
You might like
They’re all very different chefs, so it will be fascinating to see what they come up with down on the banks of the Torrens.
More details here.
New Republic
The Orient Hotel on Magill Road was one of those very old-school Adelaide pubs that received the glam treatment and became part of a new wave of entertainment and dining venues.
However, not too many years after its transformation it has been transformed yet again, with new owners rebadging it as Republic.
The interiors and the beer garden have been virtually gutted and rejuvenated. Among the bells and whistles there’s a “vertical” garden on the outside of the dining room wall; a beer garden with a retractable roof which automatically activates at the first drop of rain (and an adjoining “secret room”); and, inside, pressed-metal ceilings and other bespoke touches.
In the kitchen, chef Bradd Johns has returned home from London where he cooked in a Michelin-starred kitchen and worked for the catering company that serviced Buckingham Palace (yep, he’s cooked for the Queen).
The wine list will be heavily South Australian, and plenty of local produce will feature on a weekly changing menu.
Republic opens today.
Ready to rumble
If you’re a rum connoisseur, the latest addition to the Adelaide Casino Chandelier Bar’s high-end spirit collection will have you salivating like a thirsty sailor.
Bar outlet manager Mike Thomas says the 50-year-old Appleton Estate rum, the Jamaica Independent Reserve, is valued at more than $5000 a bottle and is believed to be the world’s oldest barrel-aged rum.
It was created from barrels set down in 1962, just before Jamaica gained independence from Britain, and is packaged in a handcrafted crystal decanter with gold engravings.
Stay informed, daily
Thomas says the Chandelier Bar has the only bottle available in SA, and one of just 17 Australia-wide.
He describes it as a smooth and mellow drop, with “powerful notes of oak infused with rich vanilla and layered with cinnamon apple and orange peel”.
The only catch? It’ll set you back $275 per 30ml shot.
Warnie’s pale pitch
Meanwhile, at the ever-so-slightly more affordable end of the alcohol market, cricketer Shane Warne is making a foray into the beer market with a collaboration with New Zealand’s Moa Brewing Company.
Tonight at North Adelaide’s Archer Hotel, Warnie will launch a new Moa pale called 99 Not Out – named after the 2001 NZ-Australia game in Perth when he was caught out on 99 and missed out on his maiden Test century. We’re told the beer is hopped with New Zealand Kohatu and Cascade hops, displaying “spicy / earthy hop notes, a strong malt backbone, and a nicely balanced bitterness”.
Superfood survey
Are you a fan of modern “superfoods”, such as chia, maca, quinoa, kale, salmon, cranberry, coconut and broccoli?
If so, a University of Adelaide researcher wants to hear from you.
History and Politics PhD student Jessica Loyer is researching how and why Australians consume superfoods.
She says these foods are often “displaced” – in other words, they have travelled to new markets, “but they’ve arrived without a sense of how to use them in cuisine”.
“In Mexico, chia seeds are commonly used to make a refreshing drink, while in Australia they appear more often as supplements and in bakery products,” she says.
“Maca has become popular in Australia as a superfood that provides energy, balances hormones and acts as a libido stimulant. It’s primarily sold in powder or capsule form, but in the Peruvian high Andes it’s eaten as a whole root vegetable, either roasted fresh or dried for future use in a range of recipes.
“Knowledge of how to use these foods has to come from somewhere, so I’m also interested in how Australians learn about superfoods.”
The study will involve focus groups to explore Australians’ use and knowledge of superfoods and their values and practices relating to food and health.
If you are over 18, use superfoods, and are interested in participating in a focus group in Adelaide, register here.
Want to see more stories from InDailySA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDailySA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDailySA". That's it.
